湯姆‧衛索曼

Sonnabend Gallery, Paris
Private Collection
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Stefan Edlis & Gael Neeson, Chicago
Private Collection, USA
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary and Modern Art Day Sale, 28 February 2008, Lot 196
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Aspects of Contemporary Art, 1963
Winnipeg, Winnipeg Art Gallery, OK America, 1969, no. 28
Berkeley, University Art Museum; Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Made in U.S.A., An Americanization in Modern Art, the '50s & '60s, 1987

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the red in the bottom of the composition tends more towards pillar box red. The illustration fails to convey the textured collage elements. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is an area of minor lifting to the bottom right corner tip of the lace collage and some surface inconsistencies which are inherent to the artist's choice of materials and method. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals small spots of retouching to the pears, whisky bottle, in places to the outer edges and three nail heads to the centre of each edge.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Belonging to Tom Wesselmann’s series of Still Lifes which, along with the Great American Nudes, are his most iconic works, Still Life #5 ½ from 1962 is one of the earliest examples of the group. In 1962 Wesselmann’s Great American Nude #2 featured in the exhibition Recent Painting U.S.A – The Figure at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, from which it was then acquired into the collection. This encouraged the artist to expand the themes he was focusing on, starting the great series of still life works that appropriated elements from everyday life and which are considered “possibly the most systematic and best worked out” of his paintings (Danilo Eccher, ‘Tom Wesselmann’ in: Exhibition Catalogue, Rome, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Tom Wesselmann, 2005, p. 52). Indeed, the food and drink placed on the table in what seems a casual way belie the extreme accuracy with which they were arranged on the board in their balanced composition and harmonious colours, making Still Life #5 ½ a brilliant example of Wesselmann’s adeptness at bringing together elements from the most varied of sources to create his vibrant trademark collages. Later on in 1962, two of his still lifes would be included in Sidney Janis’ seminal New Realists exhibition alongside Andy Warhol’s soup cans, Roy Lichtenstein’s comic book-like paintings, Claes Oldenburg’s pastry and meat arrangements and James Rosenquist’s huge billboard displays; a show which is now seen as the landmark exhibition that brought international visibility to Pop Art for the first time.

Featuring images of goods that could be found in the typical American household of the 1960s, Wesselmann’s masterful ability to source and combine pictures renders in Still Life #5 ½ a composition that recalls the still lifes painted by the Dutch masters centuries ago. Like his predecessors, the artist chose to represent those articles that were desired by society, making Still Life #5 ½ a photograph of the social and economic conditions of the time, and using the collaged elements to “affirm the high American standard of living. The variety, size, and quantity of fresh, canned, and packaged foods give evidence of agricultural abundance, factory productivity, and a thriving consumer economy” (Sidra Sitch in: Exhibition Catalogue, Berkeley, University Art Museum; Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Made in U.S.A., An Americanization in Modern Art, the '50s & '60s, 1987, p. 107). The centre of the composition is dominated by a bottle of Old Taylor Bourbon, instant coffee, a pack of Marlboro cigarettes - arguably the most iconic of American tobacco brands - and a leg of smoked ham. These markedly masculine goods within a household are surrounded by typically feminine items - a patterns magazine, a doily, and some fruit neatly placed in a bowl. On the top right of the collage, a part of a female body can be glimpsed against a floral wallpaper, the sensuous figure connecting the present work to the artist’s celebrated series of nudes.

For Wesselmann, the choice of specific imagery did not follow a need to tell a particular story, “his choices were purely personal: he found them visually exciting or pertinent to a possible painting” and he went to great lengths in order to find the printed material that would serve him (Slim Stealingworth, Tom Wesselmann, New York 1980, p. 31). As a recent graduate living in a small studio in New York and teaching at the High School of Art and Design, his trips on the subway proved a great source of inspiration. The lush illustrations of foods, drinks and other commodities in advertisements provided Wesselmann with an endless array of material to include in his collages. When he got home he would often write dozens of letters to advertising and consumer goods companies asking them for their displays, which he then stored carefully in his studio for future use (Ibid., p. 24). Wesselmann’s appropriation of advertisements reflected the sixties' artistic Zeitgeist; having started his career as an abstract painter, he tried to emulate the 'all-over' style of the Abstract Expressionists, especially Willem de Kooning’s vigorous compositions - an infulence that was later evinced in the tight composition of his collages, including Still Life #5 ½. However, not feeling comfortable with abstraction and having an eye for graphic design (he had worked as a cartoonist as a student) the artist started incorporating images from the printed media into his work. This was facilitated by the post-war economic affluence that reigned in North America, which had caused a proliferation of new brands and products, all of which were advertised in bold, glossy designs that practically inundated the streets. Several artists felt compelled by these designs and started using them in their work. Pop Art was seen as a celebration of American culture; having been described in 1965 by scholar John Rublowsky as “Democratic, expansive, irreverent, brimming over with confidence and vitality, pop art accepts our world and seeks the beauties produced by this world. With the pop movement, American art becomes truly American for the first time and thus becomes universal” (John Rublowsky, Pop Art: Images of the American Dream, 1965, p. 7).

With its combination of accurately pasted imagery and areas of boldly coloured paint, Still Life #5 ½ 's dynamic celebration of American consumer culture is a wonderful example of Tom Wesselmann’s unique creative process. The artist himself described it as “a process of narrowing the range of choice until there are no more choices. The process is largely sensual, a question of feelings and sensation; quite often, a physical catch in my stomach indicates the correct choice. I arrange and rearrange until the elements lock into place. When this happens, the composition develops a physical resistance to any further manipulation” (the artist cited in: Ibid., p. 131). Still Life #5 ½ evinces this method; the moment when all the elements ‘locked together’ to form a powerfully magnetic group, one that refuses to be changed and works in perfect harmony.